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2012

The Mediterranean: What, Why, and How

Richard W. Clement Utah State University

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Recommended Citation Richard W. Clement, “The Mediterranean: What, Why, and How,” Mediterranean Studies, 20:1 (2012): 114-120

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Libraries at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Library Faculty & Staff Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Mediterranean: What, Why, and How 1

Richard W. Clement

Utah State University

Many of us who study the Mediterranean have been confronted with surprise and even disbelief

that such a subject could be considered a legitimate field of study. Yet we all accept the

traditional “area studies” concentrations in , the Slavic countries, the Middle ,

and East , among others. Why, then, is there so much resistance to the idea of Mediterranean

Studies? Perhaps the fact that it is a sea and not a contained landmass, or that it represents

disparate cultures, makes it seem different and less appropriate as an individual field of study.

But clearly, there is a scholarly movement focused on the geographical, historical and cultural

Mediterranean that is gaining strength worldwide. It is my purpose to illustrate the contours of

this new field of study in terms of its raison d’être and the logistical structures in academe that

support it. My title posits three questions: What is the Mediterranean? Why should we study the

Mediterranean? How can we study the Mediterranean?

I. What is the Mediterranean?

The means the sea in the middle of the earth, from the Latin medius

(the middle or between) and terra (land or earth). The term was coined by the Romans, though it

was a late usage that seems to have first been used in the 3rd century AD, by the geographer

Solinus (as reported by Isidore of Seville in the 6th century). 2 Of course, the parts of the

1 This is a revised version of a talk given at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies at the Pusan University of Foreign Studies in on September 25, 2009 (the 2,489th anniversary of the Battle of Salamis). 2 Kai Brodersen, “Mediterranean Sea and ,” in M. Gagarin and E. Fantham, eds., Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient and Rome (New York, 2010), v. 4, 387.

1 Mediterranean Sea have always had their own specific names, such as the Tyrrhenian, Ionian,

Adriatic, or Aegean. Initially the Romans referred to the whole sea as Mare magnum (the Great

Sea), Mare internum (the Interior Sea), or Mare nostrum (Our Sea), but from Late Antiquity,

Mare mediterraneum has been the most favored term. If we look at a map, the Mediterranean

Sea appears remarkably self-contained. The single opening at Gibraltar allows water from the

Atlantic Ocean to flow into the Mediterranean. Without that inflow, the Mediterranean Sea would dry up.

Having considered the name and geographical location, we return to our question, “What is the Mediterranean?” Is it the Mediterranean Sea , and so defined as a body of water? The sea is

at once an easy medium for trade and communication among disparate cultures on the shores of

the Mediterranean. And at the same time it has been a barrier or frontier between cultures. In the

16th century, for example, the Mediterranean Sea marked the between and

Islam. And indeed it was on the sea that the great Battle of Lepanto was fought in 1571 that

stabilized that and generally halted the advance of the Turks in the Mediterranean.

The most common approach, however, is to define the Mediterranean as the

Mediterranean Region , namely, all the countries that touch its shore. Such a regional approach

makes sense, but we must not forget the lands in the sea—the islands. The Mediterranean has a

number of very large islands, such as Sicily, Sardinia, , and that have truly been

political, cultural, and religious crossroads. There are also islands like and that

have served as barriers or bulwarks against conquest. And this us to consider the important

interactions between man, the land, and the sea. The great French historian Fernand Braudel

taught that the and of the Mediterranean region shaped the cultures that

developed along its shores. In his great work, The Mediterranean , originally published in 1949 in

2 French, the physical presence of the Mediterranean is felt throughout the book and can almost be

seen to be the major protagonist. 3

But perhaps the most complete definition of the Mediterranean is to see it as a

Mediterranean Culture , defined by ideas and customs created by people living on the islands and

surrounding countries of the Mediterranean Sea. For me, as an intellectual historian, it must be

the culture and ideas of the people of the Mediterranean that are most important. Braudel is of

course correct to identify the unique geography and climate of the Mediterranean region that has

shaped how people lived and flourished. Building on Braudel’s awareness of geography, we can

consider how people and sea interacted to create the cultures and ideas of the Mediterranean. The

islands of the Mediterranean can be seen as crossroads and meeting points for different cultures

and religions. And indeed, over the course of history, several world cultures have developed in

the Mediterranean region.

II. Why should we study the Mediterranean?

The Mediterranean region is of fundamental importance to history. For it is where

Egypt, one of the oldest civilizations began. Two other civilizations worth mentioning are

Minoan Crete and the Phoenicians. While the exquisite frescoes from Minoan Crete and the

nearby island of Thera and the Minoans’ cryptic Linear A script will continue to excite the

imagination,4 the Phoenicians are far more important for the larger Mediterranean. The

Phoenicians were the first to explore the Mediterranean Sea and establish colonies far from their

home cities in the . While their most famous colony was Carthage, in modern Tunisia,

they also established colonies in (Cartagena and Cadiz) and traded as far away as

3 F. Braudel, La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen à l’époque de Philippe II , 3 vols. (1949; rev. ed. 1966). 4 J. Bennet, “Minoan civilization,” in S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, eds., Oxford Classical Dictionary , 3rd edition (Oxford, 1996), 986.

3 Cornwall. 5 According to Herodotus (4.42) a Phoenician expedition even circumnavigated .

Finally, the Phoenicians are important for developing an early version of the alphabet. The

Greeks adapted the to fit their own language around 800 BC, and it is this early Greek alphabet from which most western alphabets derive. 6

In terms of cultural history, the Mediterranean region is where the classical civilizations

of Greece and Rome originated. It is difficult to overemphasize the importance of Greco-Roman

classical civilization and its re-conceptualization in the Italian Renaissance. There is a vast body

of literature on the contributions of these civilizations to our own, but we merely need to look

around at our , our institutions, our art, and our values to see the continuity of

Western Civilization, all of which has its origin in the Mediterranean region.

For religious history it is where , Christianity, and originated. Who can

doubt the importance and significance of these religions, particularly , for

many millions of people around the world? Many other parts of the globe as a result share a

religious tradition that originated in the Mediterranean.

For the history of world , the Roman revolved around the Mediterranean

to such an extent that the Romans commonly referred to it as “our sea” ( mare nostrum ) or “the

internal sea” ( mare internum , e.g. Sallust , Bellum Iugurthinum 17). 7 More recently, the

Mediterranean region is where the Portuguese and Spanish global empires began. From the

Iberian Peninsula explorers and traders carried Mediterranean languages, culture and ideas to the

New World and then completely around the globe. Thus we can speak of “Latin” America as

culturally and linguistically Mediterranean. For economic history, the Mediterranean region is

5 L. E. Stager, “Phoenician Shipwrecks in the Deep Sea,” in From Sidon to Huelva: Searoutes: Interconnections in the Mediterranean, 16th-6th c. BC (2003), 233-48. 6 J. W. Price, “Alphabet, Greek,” in The Oxford Classical Dictionary , 3rd edition (Oxford, 1996), 66. 7 Kai Brodersen, “Mediterranean Sea and Region,” in M. Gagarin and E. Fantham, eds., Oxford Encyclopedia of and Rome (New York, 2010), v. 4, 387.

4 where the Catalans, Genoese, and Venetians created the banking structure we still use today. The

Mediterranean has always been a center for trade and business, and it is no surprise that modes of banking developed there.

III. How can we study the Mediterranean?

Scholars who study the Mediterranean region, like others in the humanities, have long worked and researched on our own. We have not tended to collaborate as have our colleagues in other disciplines. But even so, there are institutions, journals, and organizations that support our work and bring us together. Below is a partial list of some of the institutes and programs for

Mediterranean studies and some of the journals that focus on the Mediterranean region and its peoples.

Institutes and Programs

• I must first of all note the Institute for Mediterranean Studies at the Pusan University of

Foreign Studies, which is one of several such research centers around the world. Also in

Asia is the Institute for Mediterranean Studies at Waseda University in . In

Australia is the Trendall Research Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies at La Trobe

University.

• In we may note the the Institute for Mediterranean Studies at the University of

Lugano, Switzerland; the Maison méditerranéenne, in Aix-en-Provence, ; the

Centre for Mediterranean Studies at the University of Exeter, in England; the Centre for

Euro-Mediterranean Studies at the University of Reading, in England. We should not

5 forget the new Program in Mediterranean Studies at the John Paul II Catholic University

in Lublin, , discussed in the following article.

• In the Mediterranean region itself there is the Mediterranean Institute at the University of

Malta; the FORTH Institute of Mediterranean Studies in Crete, Greece; the Athens

Institute for Education and Research, in Greece; the Instituto Europeo del Mediterráneo

in Barcelona, Spain; the - (EMUNI) in Portorož, Slovenia;

the Institute of Mediterranean Studies at Alexandria University in ; and the Center

for Mediterranean Civilizations at University in .

• In we should mention the Canadian Institute for Mediterranean Studies at

the University of Toronto; the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at New

York University; the Fares Center for Studies at Tufts University,

Massachusetts; the Center for Integrative Mediterranean Studies at Virginia

Commonwealth University (in collaboration with the , in Italy, and

Cordoba University, in Spain); the McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies of

Georgetown University (located in ); and, the Mediterranean Studies Forum at

Stanford University, California.

There are, in addition, a number of departments of Mediterranean Studies and programs in

Mediterranean Studies, mostly in North American and European universities.

Journals

• Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean (Routledge; Society for the Medieval

Mediterranean, Centre for Mediterranean Studies at the University of Exeter) 1988; 2

6 issues per year. Devoted to the study of all aspects of the Arabo-Islamic medieval

Mediterranean studies.

• Ancient West & East (Peeters) 2001; annual. Presents the history and of the

periphery of the Graeco-Roman world, with an emphasis on local societies and cultures

and their interaction with the Graeco-Roman, Near Eastern and early Byzantine worlds.

• International Journal of Euro-Mediterranean Studies (Euro-Mediterranean University

[EMUNI]) 2008; 2 issues per year. An interdisciplinary forum dedicated to examining

issues in the intersections of humanities and social studies in the Euro-Mediterranean

area.

• Journal of Mediterranean Studies (University of Malta) 1991; 2 issues per year.

Interdisciplinary journal devoted to the Mediterranean, publishing original scholarship in

anthropology, archaeology and the history, literature, religions, culture and society of

Southern Europe and in both historical and modern periods.

• Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry (, Rhodes,

Greece) 2001; 2 or 3 issues a year. It focuses on the Mediterranean region and on matters

referred to interactions of Mediterranean with neighboring areas, but presents an

international forum of research, innovations, discoveries, applications and meetings,

concerning the modern approaches to the study of human past.

• Mediterranean (Ionian University, , Greece) 2011; annual. Aims at

promoting a discussion of the cultures of the Mediterranean world, focusing on the Greek

and Roman world, although Medieval and Byzantine culture are also included.

7 • Mediterranean Historical Review (Routledge; Center for Mediterranean Civilizations at

Tel Aviv University) 1986; 2 issues per year. Provides an international forum for topics

on the ancient, medieval, and modern history of the .

• Mediterranean Politics (Routledge) 1994; 3 issues per year. Covers political

developments at the national and international levels in the Mediterranean region.

• Mediterranean Quarterly: A Journal of Global Issues (Duke University Press;

Mediterranean Affairs, Inc.) 1989; 4 issues per year. Accounts for many of the changes

that are redefining the world order. This unique publication delivers global issues with a

Mediterranean slant and regional struggles of global impact.

• Mediterranean Review (Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Pusan University of Foreign

Studies, Korea) 2008; 2 issues per year. Mediterranean regional affairs and

discusses crucial developments in culture and politics. It addresses global issues, such as

Mediterranean influence on international affairs, and its multicultural dimensions.

• Mediterranean Studies (Pennsylvania State University Press; Mediterranean Studies

Association) 1989; 2 issues per year. An interdisciplinary publication reflecting the broad

history of the Mediterranean basin from ancient to modern times. Intended for a

scholarly audience, the journal is particularly concerned with the ideas and ideals of

western Mediterranean cultures and the influence of these ideas beyond the region’s

geographical boundaries.

• Scripta Mediterranea (Canadian Institute for Mediterranean Studies) 1980; annual.

Studies all aspects of Mediterranean culture and civilization, past and present.

8 This brief survey of the programs, institutes, and journals devoted to the study of the

Mediterranean region provides ample proof that the study of the Mediterranean is a vibrant and growing field. And while we can certainly agree with Fernand Braudel that geography and climate are key players in the study of the Mediterranean, ultimately history is about people.

What is special about the Mediterranean is that, because it is a contained and sheltered sea, it allows for an intense interaction among different peoples. The history of the Mediterranean is one of human co-existence and confrontation in terms of trade, religion, culture, and politics— indeed sometimes leading to conquest and warfare. Finally, let me end with a quotation from

Fernand Braudel: “it is my belief that all the problems posed by the Mediterranean are of exceptional human richness, and that they must therefore all.”8

8 Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, translated by Siân Reynolds (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), v. 1, 19.

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